Sales and use tax report

A spike in building permits issued in October helped propel the city of Fort Collins to a 12.5 percent jump in total net taxable revenue.

Taxes paid on building permits soared nearly 400 percent in October based on the strength of a large student housing project that pulled its permit for roughly 220 apartments. Use taxes paid on The Grove, Campus Crest’s housing project on Centre Avenue near the Gardens at Spring Creek, totaled more than $400,000.

With more large apartment buildings expected to come online in the next couple of months, the use tax revenue should continue to grow for the rest of the year. McWhinney filed its building permit application for 314 units at Trails at Timberline in September. Those permits could be issued by the end of the year.

As the city looks toward the ever important holiday shopping season, net taxable revenue is up nearly 12 percent, much higher than the city anticipated going into the year.

In October, sales subject to sales tax was up 6 percent over last year, just about even with annual sales. The city’s four largest tax categories were up, although general merchandise was up less than 1 percent.

“A positive is a positive,” said Jessica Ping-Small, the city’s sales tax manager. “But it is one of those categories that tends to have slightly less increases.”